MIAMI, April 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Waze, the award-winning free traffic and navigation mobile app, and IMS Internet Media Services (IMS), a leading digital marketing company in Latin America, have announced a commercial partnership to further expand Waze's reach into Latin America.

With Latin America featuring one of the highest mobile penetration rates in the world and smartphone adoption above global averages, mobile advertising is fast becoming a strategic component of cross-channel marketing. Through this association, IMS will monetize Waze's dynamic mobile platform, powered by the world's largest community of drivers, throughout the region.

Waze's location-based advertising formats include branded map pins and banners. The branded map pins can be clicked to receive additional information such as the driving route to, phone number, and URL of the indicated client.

"Waze is one of the most relevant and innovative mobile apps in market, integrating technology with real time, community-based feedback to make drivers' lives easier," said Ignacio Vidaguren, COO of IMS. "Waze is especially useful in the congested traffic of Latin American cities and already has a significant, established user base in key LatAm markets – providing strong appeal for mobile advertisers. I am excited to add Waze to our group of leading partners, such as Netflix and Twitter."

"As we continue to grow and build our community in Latin America, we're very excited to partner with IMS. They understand the market and will help us deliver unique mobile advertising experiences to our users," said Samuel Keret, vice president of business development for Waze. "We're confident in IMS' ability and enthusiasm and look forward to working together to achieve excellent results for advertisers throughout LatAm."

About IMSIMS Internet Media Services is a leading digital marketing company enabling businesses to address Brazil and Latin America markets. Our business units include digital and offline media buying for agencies as well as direct clients such as Netflix and Open English; performance strategies via AdNetwork.net as well as an IMS DSP powered by MediaMath; and sales representation for Twitter and Waze. IMS has offices in Miami, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Uruguay. For more information, please visit www.imscorporate.com or follow us on Twitter @IMSCorp.

About WazeThe Waze App is available for on iOS and Android devices, and be downloaded for free in the Apple App Store, Google :: Play Market, or at http://m.waze.com.

Waze is a free traffic and navigation app, home to the world's largest community of drivers who work together to fight traffic, and save time and gas money on their daily commute. By simply driving with Waze open, drivers passively contribute traffic info that benefits their local driving community. Drivers can also actively report events such as accidents, police traps, or hazards along the way. Aggregating this crowdsourced road info, Waze provides the best real-time routes that bypass traffic, even re-routing drivers as road conditions change.

The Waze community is over 40 million strong and growing! Start saving valuable time and gas money, and make driving just a little more fun.